Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
Point of sale (POS) terminals are commonly used throughout the retail industry to process purchase transactions. A POS terminal typically includes a personal computer (PC) core and chassis, one or more displays, a fixed optical code scanner and weigh scale, a cash drawer, a magnetic stripe reader (MSR), keyboard and a printer. An assisted POS terminal has an operator that is trained to use the POS terminal and to process purchase transactions using the POS terminal.
In a typical purchase transaction, where an assisted POS terminal is used, a customer brings one or more items for purchase to the POS terminal and the operator presents each item to POS terminal, which scans and identifies the item. Some items are too large or heavy or inconvenient (non-presentable items) to be physically presented to the fixed optical code scanner for identification. For these types of items, some POS terminals have a second portable handheld optical code scanner. When the operator identifies a non-presentable item, the operator will physically take the handheld optical code scanner to the location of the item and manual scan the optical code on the item for identification. This process has several limitations. It is time consuming since the operator must move from the operator side of the POS terminal to the customer side in order to gain access to the item. Once the item is scanned, the operator must then return back to the operator side to continue the purchase transaction. In addition, since the handheld optical code scanner is mainly used to scan non-presentable items, it has limited functionally and a low duty cycle.
Therefore, there is a need for a hybrid optical code scanner that provides a more efficient use of a handheld optical code scanner.